Defence claims Bilkis Bano’s statement influenced by others in Godhra relief camp

MUMBAI: Senior advocate Harshad Ponda, defending the 11 convicts in the case, yesterday informed the Bombay High Court that Bilkis had met ‘over 800 Muslims’ during

MUMBAI: Senior advocate Harshad Ponda, defending the 11 convicts in the case, yesterday informed the Bombay High Court that Bilkis had met ‘over 800 Muslims’ during her stay at the Godhra relief camp and her testimony could have been influenced by what she heard from others at the camp.

HT Image

Continuing with his primary argument that her testimony was ‘full of contradictions’ and ought to be disbelieved by the court, Ponda stated that Bilkis in her first statement to the police had said that she was spared by the convicts when she told them that she was pregnant.

He said that the scribe who noted Bilkis’s statement at the Limkheda police station on March 3, 2002, wrote that she and her family had been attacked by a mob of Hindu men.

He also mentioned the details of the assault and murder that Bilkis claimed had followed. However, in his recordings, the scribe did not mention about Bilkis or her mother or sister being gang-raped. Instead, when examined in the trial court, the scribe stated Bilkis had told him that she was spared by the convicts after learning about her pregnancy.

‘WHY SO?’

“The scribe noted the claims of assault and murder, but not rape. Why do you think that happened? He had no reason to omit rape. It is simply because Bilkis told him she had not been raped,” Ponda said.

He also told the court that Bilkis was accompanied by a female constable while being taken for a medical examination. The constable later told the trail court that Bilkis told her nothing about the incident.

Moreover, Dr Rakesh Kumar, who examined Bilksi at the Limkheda Civil Hospital, also denied him being informed about the rape. Kumar added that he didn’t understand Gujarati and Bilkis wasn’t fluent in Hindi. Ponda argued that Kumar’s report did not mention any major injuries or any signs of rape.

However, the court questioned Ponda’s above statement after observing that though Kumar had claimed absence of injuries, he prescribed Bilkis numerous medicines following her examination. “How do you explain this? No injuries, yet so many medicines prescribed to her?” the court asked. Here, Ponda quipped that ‘that is how doctors are.’ HC is likely to continue the hearing on Thursday.